Sarah Neufeld | |
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Background information | |
Born | Merville, British Columbia [1] or Courtenay, [2] British Columbia, Canada | August 27, 1979
Genres | Indie rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Violin, keyboards, backing vocals |
Website | sarahneufeldmusic |
Sarah Neufeld (born August 27, 1979) is a Canadian violinist who is known for her work with indie rock band Arcade Fire, with whom she is a former core member and currently a touring member. [3] She has contributed to each of the band's studio albums to date. Neufeld is also a member of the instrumental band Bell Orchestre.
Neufeld has released three solo studio albums: Hero Brother (2013), The Ridge (2016) and Detritus (2021), and released a collaborative album, Never Were the Way She Was , with her husband Colin Stetson in 2015.
Started playing the violin under the Suzuki method when she was 3 years old. During her teenage years, she 'quit' violin and started playing the guitar to "learn all the Hendrix solos". After realizing her facility with the instrument, she picked up the violin once again during her university years. She says that her time away from the classical rigmarole, helped her take a more relaxed approach when collaborating with others. During her time in the Music Department at Concordia University, Montreal, she formed Bell Orchestre, a group influenced by the likes of Steve Reich, Penguin Cafe Orchestra and Tortoise. Eventually, her playing with Bell Orchestre led to an invitation for her to play with the band Arcade Fire. [4]
Neufeld was a core member of the band on its second and third studio albums, Neon Bible (2007) and The Suburbs (2010), and contributed as an additional musician on the albums Funeral (2004), Reflektor (2013), Everything Now (2017) and WE (2022) and their subsequent tours.
Neufeld is also a member of the post rock band Bell Orchestre, alongside Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry and former Arcade Fire member Pietro Amato. At age 18, she moved from East Vancouver to Montreal, Quebec, with electronic artist Tim Hecker, where she subsequently joined both bands. She currently lives in Montreal between tours. In 2009, Neufeld joined The Luyas.
Neufeld released her first solo album, Hero Brother, in 2013, [5] and released a collaborative studio album, Never Were the Way She Was , with fellow Arcade Fire collaborator Colin Stetson in 2015. In 2016, Neufeld released her second solo album, The Ridge on Paper Bag records. The album features Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara. The Ridge sees Neufeld incorporate more vocals than her previous record, Hero Brother. [6]
Neufeld and her husband, [7] saxophonist Colin Stetson, composed the score to the 2013 film Blue Caprice . [8]
Studio albums
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montréal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member Sarah Neufeld and multi-instrumentalists Paul Beaubrun, Dan Boeckner and Eric Heigle. Each of the band's studio albums features contributions from composer and violinist Owen Pallett.
Richard Reed Parry is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, best known as a core member of the Grammy Award-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire, where he plays a wide variety of instruments, often switching between guitar, double bass, drums, celesta, keyboards, and accordion.
Howard Bilerman is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer based in Montreal, Quebec. He co-owns the hotel2tango recording studio, and played drums for the band Arcade Fire.
Esmerine is a Canadian modern chamber music group that incorporates genres such as post rock, drone music, post punk, and Turkish folk. Founded in Montreal in 2000 by Bruce Cawdron (drums) and Beckie Foon (cello), current members also include percussionist Jamie Thompson and multi-instrumentalist Brian Sanderson. The band has released six albums. Dalmak, was awarded Instrumental Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2014. Their 2015 album Lost Voices is nominated for Instrumental Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2016.
Michael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their erstwhile moniker of Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds. Pallett is also known for their contributions to Arcade Fire, having toured with the band and been credited as an arranger and instrumentalist on each of their studio albums. In January 2014, Pallett and Arcade Fire member William Butler were nominated for Best Original Score at the 86th Academy Awards for their original score of the film Her (2013).
Pietro Amato is a French horn player with the rock bands Torngat, Bell Orchestre, and The Luyas. He has also performed with Arcade Fire.
Bell Orchestre is a six-piece instrumental band from Montreal. It was formed in 1999 by multi-instrumentalist Richard Parry and violinist Sarah Neufeld. Both also joined Arcade Fire. They were joined in Bell Orchestre by Michael Feuerstack, Stefan Schneider (drums/percussion), Pietro Amato, and Kaveh Nabatian (trumpet/melodica).
Jeremy Gara is a Canadian drummer from Ottawa, Ontario. He is most well known as the drummer of the band Arcade Fire. Gara is an active performer in a number of other projects, including work as a solo performer.
The Juno Award for "Instrumental Album of the Year" has been awarded since 1976, as recognition each year for the best instrumental album in Canada. The award was originally called the "Instrumental Artist of the Year".
Neon Bible is the second studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. It was first released on March 5, 2007, in Europe and a day later in North America by Merge Records. Originally announced on December 16, 2006, through the band's website, the majority of the album was recorded at a church the band bought and renovated in Farnham, Quebec. The album is the first to feature drummer Jeremy Gara, and the first to include violinist Sarah Neufeld among the band's core line-up.
The Luyas are a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2006 from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire has released six studio albums, three extended plays and twenty-four singles.
Marika Anthony-Shaw is a Canadian violist/violinist who was a touring member of the band Arcade Fire and played viola on their albums Neon Bible and The Suburbs.
Colin Stetson is a Canadian-American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In addition to saxophone, he plays clarinet, bass clarinet, French horn, flute, and cornet.
Rebecca Foon is a Canadian cellist, vocalist, and composer from Montreal, Quebec. Foon currently records under her own name, as well as the alias Saltland, and is a member and co-founder of the Juno Award-winning modern chamber ensemble Esmerine. She has also been a member of several groups associated with the post rock, experimental, and chamber music scenes of Montreal and New York City, including Set Fire to Flames, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Colin Stetson’s Gorecki Symphony of Sorrow ensemble. Esmerine's Turkish folk influenced album Dalmak, released in 2013, was awarded the Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year in 2014. In 2013, she released her first Saltland album, which Exclaim.ca called "a captivating combination of genres from dream pop to chamber music to ambient and shoegaze." In 2020, Foon released Waxing Moon, her first album under her own name, which received international acclaim. Foon has also composed many soundtracks for film and museums.
"Speaking in Tongues" is the fifth single from indie rock band Arcade Fire's third album, The Suburbs. It did not appear on the original track listing, but showed up on the deluxe edition as a bonus track.
Reflektor is the fourth studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on October 28, 2013, through Sonovox Records internationally and Merge Records in the United States. A double album, it was recorded between 2011 and 2013 at studios in Montreal, Jamaica, and Louisiana. It was co-produced by LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, regular Arcade Fire producer Markus Dravs, and the band themselves.
"Reflektor" is a song by the Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. It was released on September 9, 2013, as the first single from and the title track to the band's fourth studio album. Produced by James Murphy, Markus Dravs and the band itself, the song features a guest vocal appearance by David Bowie and was released on a limited edition 12" vinyl credited to the fictional band The Reflektors. Two music videos were made for the song, one regular and one interactive, both being released on the day of the song's release. "Reflektor" was met with positive reviews, with critics often complimenting its musical approach. It also came second in NME's list of best singles of 2013. The song had a positive commercial performance, charting in several countries.
Never Were the Way She Was is a collaborative album by Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld, released on April 28, 2015 by Constellation Records. It was recorded live in the studio without the use of overdubs or loops at the End of the World studio in Vermont. Neufeld and Stetson had first met in 2006 when Neufeld's Bell Orchestre shared a bill with Antibalas, who Stetson was playing with. The two artists had previously collaborated on the soundtrack to the 2013 film Blue Caprice. The album received favorable reviews and won a Juno Award.